It's impossible to do your job well here - Anonymous employee L7 Creative Communications Employee Review

I think the biggest problem at L7 Creative is that the owner of the company (CEO or CCO) continually sabotages projects. It's very frustrating to work here. Employees are micromanaged and not trusted. The CEO has to touch and approve every project and minor detail that comes through the agency, it's exhausting trying to manage projects this way. Sometimes you will have to wait 2 weeks to get something approved by him. A project may be going smoothly, then the CEO will inject himself into the project and screw up everything! It's a nightmare. Timelines are lies, nothing can get done on time because of him. It's really unfortunate because the CEO is actually very creative and adds a lot of value to SOME projects, but since he cannot let go of control and trust his employees to do well, there is a major problem meeting deadlines at L7 and this frustrates clients. The agency is extremely inefficient, time is wasted internally at L7 Creative and the client is charged for it. Adding to this issue: The CEO does not adhere to the workflow process that everyone in the agency is required to follow, therefore his destruction of projects becomes even more pernicious, as account managers/production are left in the dark to changes to their account's projects. Another way the CEO sabotages things at L7 is by lying to clients about timelines. He will tell a client that something will be done by a certain date, without even checking with production, or checking that the agency has the resources available. This ultimately becomes the account managers problem and they get the flack from the client. I'm not sure if he actually has memory problems or if he just chooses to lie, but he will make a decision, and tell you to act on it, and then change his mind the next day- swearing that you are the crazy one and that he never said the first thing. Keeping track of his whims is impossible and maddening. If you are looking for a work/life balance, please don't work here. If you leave at 5:30 p.m. you will be scrutinized (especially by the owner of the company). There’s this weird believe/myth at L7 that if you work late it means that you are working harder. It’s unfortunate that those who can complete their work in 8 hours are looked at as lazy employees. There are employees here who stay until 7/8pm every night, not because they are working extra hard, but because they are inefficient. Another reason you may stay extra late at L7 Creative is because of the CEO's ever changing mind and his ability to sabotage every single project that comes through the agency. Lastly, this is a "family" business, so expect there to be favoritism. The "rules" in the employee handbook are not applied fairly to all employees. There is so much at L7 Creative that is wrong, but I don't have the space to write a novel. If you choose to work at L7 Creative you might meet some really cool people and get some pretty good experience BUT I guarantee you will be frustrated to the point of madness and you won't be able to do your job well (and YOU will be blamed for this).